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Vandals Target Manchester Elementary School Playground

The playground behind Washington Elementary School has been targeted by vandals leaving tons of graffiti with racial slurs and profanity. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013)

Parents in Manchester want to know who sprayed graffiti across the playground at Washington Elementary School. On Monday night, it was covered in racial slurs and profanity and the obscenities had a lot of parents disgusted.

“Wow!” exclaimed Stephanie Dones. That was how she reacted when NBC Connecticut showed her pictures of the equipment. The vulgar images and words were impossible for her to miss. “It really bothers me…my daughters play there,” Dones explained.

One of her daughters spends time on the playground during recess. She could be out there on Tuesday. “She's starting to read she don't need to be around stuff like that,” Dones said. This parent feared many kids were already around it, because the playground is a popular place for families…especially on the weekend.

Dones wanted the graffiti cleaned up before students returned from the holiday weekend. So did the school district. “It’s disappointing to see that kind of graffiti on the property,” explained Chris Pattacini, the Chair of Manchester Board of Education. He said the taggings likely happened in the last few days. The superintendent assured NBC Connecticut the mess would be taken care of Tuesday morning.

“It’s unfortunate…I don't know if they’re trying to get notoriety it's disappointing that they're doing that,” Pattacini added. Once the graffiti was cleaned up the focus was finding whoever did this, to make sure they didn’t strike again.